Why are most organic compounds nonconducting and insoluble in ...

Question

Why are most organic compounds nonconducting and insoluble in water?

Accepted Answer

All right. Hi, everyone. So this question says true or false. Most organic compounds are non conducting because they are ionic in nature and are insoluble in water due to their high solubility in organic solvents. So there are a few things here that need to be addressed, right? To understand whether or not this statement is true or false. Starting off with the nature of an ionic compound. Now recall that an ionic compound is composed of ions, right? We have positively charged ions referred to as C ions connected to a negatively charged ion or an an I. Now when I say they're connected to each other, what I mean by this is that an ionic compound is formed when electrons are transferred from one species to another, leading to the creation of ions with opposite charges. Now, it's not so much that they are connected to each other, but they are highly attracted to each other because of their opposite charges, right, kind of like the ends of a magnet going towards each other. So when two ions of opposite charges are near each other, they're going to gravitate towards each other. And that's why they stick together and compose or make up right, solid salts, for example, table salt or sodium chloride. Now, the first part of the statement here is actually true because most organic compounds are in fact non conducting. But the reason that's proposed here is slightly misleading, right. It's true that most organic compounds are non conducting, but it's not necessarily because they are ionic in nature. In fact, organic compounds are classified as being covalent in nature because of carbon's ability to form covalent bonds with either other carbon atoms or atoms like oxygen, nitrogen, et cetera. An example of a covalent compound that comes to mind is methane or ch four in which one carbon atom is covalent bound to four hydrogen atoms. Now, most organic compounds are nonconducting because covalent compounds aren't characterized as having free ions because recall that electrical conductivity requires free, right? Because in order for a substance to be a good conductive electricity, electrons must be able to pass through that substance. And in order for that to happen, the substance in question has to have free ions which covalent compounds generally do not. And so because there are no re ions, they are non conducting. So the first part of the statement is false. So with that in mind, we can go ahead and focus our attention on the second part of the question where it states that most organic compounds are in soluble in water due to their high solubility in organic solvents Now, the reason why I find this part of the statement rather misleading is because it doesn't have to do with the identity of the solvent per se. Because recall that solubility is a question of polarity and polarity is a consequence of there being a difference in electronegativity between two different atoms connected together in a covalent bond. Water, for example, involves an oxygen atom connected to two hydrogen atoms. And because oxygen is highly electron, whereas hydrogen is not water is a very polar molecule, it is a very polar solvent because there is a difference in electron negativity that affects how the electrons in a covalent bond are shared in between two apps. Now, substances that have a similar polarity are going to be able to dissolve. Well, now most organic compounds tend to be nonpolar because most organic compounds contain a variety of bonds between two carbon atoms, right? And because they are the same atom right? There's no or there isn't going to be a difference in electronegativity per se, meaning that the bond itself is nonpolar. So because most organic compounds are nonpolar or very slightly polar, they are not going to dissolve well in polar solvents like water, think for example, oil and water, oil is an organic compound and it is nonpolar. So because oil and water have opposite polarities, they are not going to mix together as well. So the stigman here is going to be false. Number one, because the reason why organic compounds are non conducting is because of their covalent nature, not ionic nature. And number two, the reason why many organic compounds are insoluble in water is because polar or excuse me, water is highly polar, whereas most organic compounds are not and there you have it. So with that being said, thank you so very much for watching and I hope you found this helpful.

Why are most organic compounds nonconducting and insoluble in water?

Key Concepts

Polarity of Molecules

Ionic vs. Covalent Bonds

Hydrophobic Effect

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